Skip to main content

SIMPLICITY

It has been a distinct honor to be an active part of the St. Francis College community in Brooklyn, NY ever since my son enrolled at SFC in 2016. Having been born in Brooklyn and considering SFC myself as a potential college choice many years ago, I knew SFC was a special place. The energy was different, the people were different – I knew this would be a great fit for my son, but I also couldn’t help but think: “How can I become more deeply involved in this community!”

That thought started a journey that has guided me to the Executive Suite at SFC as I now serve as Interim President. During my journey, I have learned a great deal about St. Francis of Assisi and his deeply compelling life of genuine love and the genius of his ministry.

Most of us, I’m sure, are familiar with God’s answer to Francis when he was at a point of confusion and indecision in his life. God said: “Francis, go and rebuild my church which, as you see, is falling down.” It is widely understood that Francis thought this meant God was asking him to manually rebuild the dilapidated local church that he was attending in San Damiano. Later on, however, it became clearer that God had global impact planned for Francis’ life and that the rebuild was not just for the small “c” church, but ultimately for the big “C” Church.

One of the sayings that I often communicate throughout SFC is, “You can’t scale complexity, you can only scale simplicity.” Let’s apply this to Francis’ situation. If Francis had interpreted God’s call on his life to mean that he was supposed to rebuild the entire Church, where would he have started? What would he have done? Would he have just walked right into St. Peter’s Basilica and told the Pope that it was time to make some changes? Even though Francis was quite bold, I doubt that this would have been his strategy. When the task is seen through the lens of complexity, it is much more difficult to come up with a strategy or even envision the final destination.

If, however, we can approach things through the lens of simplicity, progress can begin immediately. When he hears, “Francis, go and rebuild my church,” Francis – most likely after a bit of shock having just heard the voice of God – begins to rebuild the church right in front of him, brick by brick. That then evolves into a strategy of person by person: perhaps we can think of the “living stones” that we read about in the First Letter of Saint Peter. Clearly there is great beauty, elegance and clarity in simplicity.

In closing, let’s apply this line of thinking to Franciscan higher education. I see some similarities between Francis’ calling and our calling as institutions under his patronage. What does it look like to rebuild Franciscan higher education which, as we see, in many ways, needs rebuilding? Perhaps at a level of complexity that is simply too fragmented to address. However, if we start with each person around us, if we give each of our students an intentional, personalized experience and address the needs of our communities through service, then we can start to make progress. We can learn a lot from Francis – he is a prime patron for any college. The takeaway for today: start with what is in front of you. Or, as it is attributed to Francis: “Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.” Simple, clear, elegant and beautiful!

Tim Cecere
Interim President
St. Francis College

"Brooklyn Bridge" by Greg Parker

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

THE MANGER & THE MONSTRANCE: WHAT ST. FRANCIS’ MANGER SCENE CAN TEACH US ABOUT THE BREAD OF LIFE IN THE YEAR OF EUCHARISTIC REVIVAL

The manger scene evokes our memories of Christmas: sharing delicious holiday dishes with family members, sitting around a Christmas tree with hot cocoa, or roasting chestnuts on an open fire. However, on this night, St. Francis did not partake in the feasting typical at Christmastime in the Middle Ages. Instead, he desired to “…enact the memory of that babe who was born in Bethlehem: to see as much as is possible with [his] own bodily eyes the discomfort of [Christ’s] infant needs, how he lay in a manger, and how, with an ox and ass standing by, he rested on hay”. Thus, the manger scene was born. On Christmas Eve in 1223, St. Francis of Assisi had the first live manger scene created in the town of Greccio. He gathered the townspeople from near and far to celebrate Mass and recall the origins of Christ’s humble birth.   Francis saw Our Lord’s birth as fundamental. His Birth is intimately tied to His Death. The two bookends of Christ’s Life on earth form the basis of Francis’ spiritu...

THREE TRANSFORMATIVE EXPERIENCES

There are three experiences that profoundly shaped St. Francis of Assis’s life. Two were early: one year spent as a prisoner-of-war (from 1202-1203), and subsequent homelessness living among lepers outside Assisi’s walls (likely 1205). The third, Francis’ journey to Egypt (in 1219), occurred seven years before his death in 1226. Each unfolded differently than Francis anticipated. Seeking fame, Francis joined Assisi’s ongoing fight with its neighbor Perugia. The son of a wealthy cloth merchant went off to war well equipped with horse and armor. When the battle turned against Assisi, Francis’s life was spared because his equipment revealed he came from a family capable of paying a ransom. His poorer, fellow soldiers who survived the battle were likely executed or if wounded “dispatched” on the battlefield. Strangely, Francis wrote nothing about his year-long imprisonment. Released from captivity, he was shell of his former self. Having witnessed men killed in battle, others executed as...

SELF-AWARENESS, SELF-ACTUALIZATION

On his deathbed, St. Francis freed his Brothers by saying, “I have done what was mine to do, may Christ now teach you what you are to do.”  Why did he say this? So that his Brothers would not try to become him.  God created each of Francis’ Brothers to be who they were, not who St. Francis was.  The key for them finding out what was theirs to do was discovering whom God intended them to be.  Now, 800 years later, self-awareness for our students is just - if not - more important.   A Franciscan view of career suggests each of our students needs to know who they are so that they can see the Good inside themselves, and share that Good to maximize their contribution to transform a world desperately in need of their Good. Sadly, for most college students, self-awareness is in short supply.   On my radio show Thank God For Monday, guests advise that today’s college graduates are not self-aware.   Sure, they know accounting and biology and information tec...